Certain communication protocols, such as the 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE)-Advanced protocol, permit carrier aggregation (CA) in which a wireless device may schedule data traffic over multiple carrier bands (referred to as component carriers) to increase available bandwidth, and thus throughput, for voice and data communication. Carrier aggregation may be performed in the uplink (UCLA) and/or the downlink (DLCA), and may be performed using a varying number of component carriers (N number of component carriers, or N×CA).
Wireless devices having multiple subscriber identity modules (SIMs) may communicate with two or more cells of a wireless network. Some multi-subscription communication devices may allow two or more network interfaces or subscriber identity modules (SIMs) to share a single receiver/transmitter chain (e.g., dual SIM dual standby or “DSDS”). However, the receiver-transmitter chain in such devices can only tune to a single network at a time. The multi-subscription communication device may employ a “tune-away” procedure to monitor multiple interfaces in a standby mode by tuning to one network in a primary cell, quickly tuning away to the secondary network in a secondary cell for a short time, and then tuning back to the first network to continue a voice or data call. This tune-away procedure allows the multi-subscription communication device to monitor for pages or other indications of incoming messages or data received on the secondary network. However, tuning away to another network can interrupt communications with the first network and can reduce throughput of communications between the first network and the multi-subscription communication device.
Currently, the tune-away procedure is always performed in the secondary cell. This is inefficient because it does not account for varying radio frequency (RF) conditions in the primary and secondary cells. For example, when RF conditions in the secondary cell are superior to those in the primary cell, performing the tune-away procedure in the secondary cell will reduce throughput for an active communication session more than if the tune-away procedure were performed in the primary cell. This is due in part to the typical correlation between a higher signal strength (e.g., received signal strength indication (RSSI) or reference signal received power (RSRP)) and a higher modulation and coding scheme (MCS), which may provide a greater data rate or throughput for the multi-subscription communication device.